Our New World
by Venomousdeers
Summary: How long can love really last when you're forced to live constantly fighting for your life? Ezria AU One-shot


**This is a sorta apocalypse fic that randomly floated into my mind and is sorta depressing, I apologize. There are flashbacks which are initiated by _italics_. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the story!**

It had been hard on everyone. To let her go alone like that. But she insisted, she insisted that it was dangerous for her to stay and they needed to let her go for good. He had to be restrained as he watched. As he watched her solemnly walk away from him, a pistol with a single loaded bullet in her hand.

The apocalypse had occurred so suddenly. One day the couples were care-freely enjoying their days, cuddling and just relishing each other's presence. And the next they were listening intently to a small radio, trying to pick up a single alive radio station giving an update on the pandemic that was quickly taking over the world. It all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Within just a few weeks, a good half of the world's population was eradicated and a good part of the other half was infected with an almost zombifying like disease.

It wasn't like a typical Hollywood zombie movie someone would see where the mangled arm of a corpse arises from the cemetery. Only to pull itself out of the ground, revealing a zombie. This was much more horrifyingly realistic. The so called zombies did rot quickly because of the infectious pathogen slipping through their bodies and leaving them dead but undead. There really was no cure for this illness. Partly because all of the doctors and scientists working on it were dead within weeks of the initial attack.

All of Rosewood, well, all of the world, was in an uncontrolled chaotic state. Grocery stores were being mercilessly ransacked for anything anyone could get their hands on. People were being killed left and right for having the right supplies that other groups of survivors needed, and so on and so forth.

The main nine had banded together; Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Alison, along with their respective lovers. Roles were assigned quickly, thanks to Spencer. Who was very determined about surviving; much like everyone who was still alive. Travis and Toby were assigned to recons and carpenters. Ezra wasn't too happy that he was assigned to medic with Emily, but he was not about to fight Spencer about it. Aria and Hanna were watchmen who kept close watch over their territory in case of any hoards of zombies began to approach. Paige and Alison didn't exactly have predetermined roles but listened to whatever Spencer said for them to do.

_Everyone heard it. At least all eight of them. The piercing scream that lead to everyone's blood turning to ice within milliseconds. They all gathered in the middle of their territory and looked for who was missing; Aria. Ezra had gone full force, running and shouting her name in search of her. Tears quickly blurred his vision as he and the other followed the sound of her heart wrenching wails of anguish._

_Within minutes they had found her, crying and kneeling over a dead zombie body that continued to spurt blood from the spot she had shot him. But that wasn't why she was crying. No, Emily was the first to spot the large bite mark on her arm that was already turning an unflattering shade of green. Everyone gasped as they all collectively realized was had happened and what was going to happen. Aria had been infected. She only began to sob harder as she felt Ezra wrap his arms around her and kiss her temples, whispering soothing words through his own sobs. He made no attempt to muffle his cries as the weight of realization hit him._

He wrapped his calloused fingers around the grip of his gun and loaded the barrel with as many bullets as it would hold. He lifted up his arm to wipe off the beads of sweat and droplets of blood that had landed on his forehead. His permanently steely gaze traveled to Toby, who was standing over the body of a slightly writhing zombie. He shot another bullet into the thing's head and relished in the tiny groan in gave as it finally died.

"One down, most likely millions to go." Toby mumbled, sliding his fire arm back into his pocket. Ezra grunted in response and stood up, brushing his dirtied hands on his pants. They stood silently as the freshly fallen leaves blew around the bloodied ground and around their boots. Ezra gazed down at the now finally dead person at Toby's feet and shook his head. This wasn't him. He didn't think a few years ago that he'd be fighting for his life and killing people who had the last bit of their humanity stolen from them. People who's minds were switched to a mode in which they only cared about feeding off the flesh of others who were alive.

"You okay?" Toby asked as he noticed Ezra's eyes shifting back and forth between the parts of the zombie that weren't torn off. The man before him nodded silently, and began to walk back to their base. They had planned to get food but all of the places they usually raided were now completely empty, they suspected some other team was near by. A pack of zombies were also stalking their area, making it difficult to pass through without being spotted. So, empty handed, they went back.

_"There's no other option, Spencer." Aria growled as she tore the pistol from her friend's hand. The wound on her arm had gotten bad, the infection spreading from her arm all over her body. She could slowly feel her sense of humanity slipping through her fingers every minute. "I'm not putting all of you in danger by staying."_

_"Please, Aria. We need you, I need you. W-we can find something. We can amputate your arm or keep you somewhere..." Spencer trailed off as she tried to think of some sort of plausible solution._

_"It's too late for that. Within hours I'll be one of them. Just let me go and let me do what needs to be done." She said. Aria tried to keep herself from crying. She hadn't yet told Ezra or anyone else but Spencer about her plan. No one knew how bad she was going to get and tried to ignore the fact they were about to loose one of their beloved members of the team. The whole group had grown to be a family over the time they had spent together, fighting for each other's lives._

_She pushed through the flaps of Ezra's tent and flashed a small smile as she spotted him cleaning his body and gun of any blood that might have landed on him during his run for food with Travis._

_"How are you feeling?" He said as he noticed her sit down. Ezra's focus turned to the gun which was in her small, shaking hand. Aria let out an uneasy breath and took her Ezra's face in her hands, dropping the gun against her thigh._

_"You can't follow me," She whispered, her heart shattering with each word that fell from her tongue. Ezra was confused; where was she going?_

_"W-why? What's going on Aria?" He asked, his hands dropping the wet cloth and closing around her wrists. The tears that she wanted so desperately to keep back now freely slide from her eyes and down her cheeks. Her eyes traveled to the gauze wrap that was wrapped around her arm and was currently soaked in blood and a greenish yellow pus that oozed from it. The area around the bite mark itself had turned an even worse shade of greyish green and it continued to spread over her body. Quickly she turned her focus back to his gorgeous eyes, the ones now forming tears at the edges._

_"I'm leaving, for good. And you can't follow me."_

"No food?" Spencer questioned as she noticed Ezra and Toby coming back with only their guns in hand.

"All of the places were raided, there's no where else with food and it's too dangerous to walk so far each day. There are zombies littered everywhere!" Ezra answered, crossing his arms. Spencer sighed and ran her manicured fingers through her messy hair. She tried to come up with a solution that wouldn't put everyone in danger, but only one sensible solution kept coming to her mind; They had to move bases.

"We can't move, where will we go? How are we supposed to move all of our supplies?" Paige protested, trying to suppress her anger. The rest of the group began to mumble agreements and their own personal opinions about the situation.

"It's the only option. There's no food left in our normal spots. We won't survive long if there is nothing to eat and we will not be forcing Ezra, Toby, and Travis to risk their lives any longer." Spencer huffed, stepping down from her cut down tree stump she would use to publicize announcements to the group. "We'll be leaving tomorrow."

_"Aria, please!" Ezra screamed as he pushed against Travis and Toby's tight hold on his arms and body. She had never seen him cry this hard. She had rarely ever seen him cry at all. It shattered her to see him so broken like this. Even when the reality that his family was probably dead hit him, he didn't sob and scream as much as he did right now._

_Aria stepped closer to him, for one last time, and stroked his bearded cheeks to wipe the stray tears away. Travis and Toby let him go on her request and sent his arms encasing around her body tightly, holding her body to his as if it was the last time he would. Well, it honestly was the last time he would be able to hold her like he was then._

_"I'm not letting you go." He mumbled into her dirty hair. Her own hands gripped his grey tee as she inhaled his scent for one final time. The side of her gun pressed against his back and he could feel her shaking body rumbling against him._

_"But you have to. You have to let me go, Ezra." Aria tried to push him off of her, but he wouldn't budge. "Ezra, please, you're only making this harder for me to leave." Her voice began to waver and shake as she felt his steady heartbeat and relished in his love._

_"Aria, don't leave me. We can do something about this." He whispered into her hair, not being brave enough to let her go. Everyone in the group watched as the couple broke down in the final struggling breaths of their relationship. As Aria ripped herself from Ezra, kissed him passionately one last time, and began to walk as far as she could before the infection began to seriously effect her brain. She didn't look back as she knew it would only make her want to run into his arms and stay there unti; she died. But it was too dangerous, once the infection took serious effect, she'd have the potential to kill them all._

_The team watched from up on the small hill they were located on as the small darkened figure that was Aria kept walking. Until she stopped, reaching a far tree too far for anyone to see her. But they knew she had stopped once they had heard the sound._

_The sound of a gunshot._

So they walked. Gathering all of their equipment from camp they walked towards where ever the universe led them, or wherever there was a stable source of food. They each carried a backpack full of whatever they could stuff into it. The things they weren't able to stuff in were then loaded in their arms. No one complained about anything seeing that Spencer was not happy about the arrangements and Ezra had a sudden fit of rage earlier, frightening all of them.

The sun was setting and everyone knew that was when it was worst to be outside. That was the time of day that it was not easy to see the zombies and using flashlights or any source of artificial light would give you away. They still had no place to settle down.

"I think there's a high school in this nearby that we could settle in for the night. I remember seeing one the first time me and Toby went out in search of food." Travis said, stepping in front of Spencer and trying to navigate their way to the high school he supposedly knew. The sun continued to set and the amount of light available for them to use steadily decreased. Eventually, they were barely able to see, besides the flickering and buzzing street lamp that was some how still alive.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Ezra snapped from the back of the group. He hoisted his backpack farther up his back and groaned as the weight of everything he was holding took effect on his older body.

"I'm trying my hardest okay?" Travis sighed, continuing to search around the area they were in, now not so confident about what he was doing. He looked left and right and turned anxiously as he tried to fine somewhere that the group could stop. They had been trekking through their area in search on somewhere for hours on end and were beginning to grow tired.

"Guys, did you hear that?" Hanna asked as her hand instinctively went to her gun. They had heard it too. The distinctive moaning and groaning sound of a pack of zombies.

_"Zombies!" Hanna yelled from her watching station in a tall tree. She observed from her binoculars as a small hoard of the undead made their way towards their base. She heard the sounds of tent covers flapping and a wooden door slamming open. Letting out Spencer, Toby and Paige, their guns at the ready._

_Hanna continued to watch the hoard from her binoculars, knowing she had spotted something off about this specific group. After holding off the three that were out for a few moments, she spotted what she had seen before._

_"Don't let Ezra out here." Hanna said, turning towards Spencer and lowering her tool._

_"Why? He has a good aim." Spencer defended as she shot at the group, not letting it come up the small hill. Hanna could spot what she knew was wrong just where she was, and it almost made her want to run over to the hardened man in his tent and hug him._

_"Just look," Hanna whispered. "Closely at the group of them." Her eyes followed Spencer's gaze as she did._

_"Oh my god..." Spencer said, dropping her gun to her side as she watched. They all watched as one specific zombie stalked up the small hill following the others. As Aria's dead, mangled body was ready to kill all of them without a thought. "I can't do it." Spencer whimpered as she backed up, suddenly losing all of her courage to shoot or even cock her gun. She winced as she heard gunshots, but it wasn't Aria that was hit._

_"Where are they?" Ezra asked as he appeared from his tent, his rifle held tightly in his large hands. His face was morphed into a menaced snarl and everyone knew that the creatures they were facing currently were not something they were to joke about with him. Not since Aria. That had left him emotionally wounded and only further led him to hone his hunting abilities. It was something that was able to put him at ease, killing them. Watching them squirm and groan helplessly as they died for the final time. If only he hadn't been too late. If he had known that Aria had gone alone to hunt one, maybe he could have saved her._

_"Ezra, no." Travis said as he grabbed the older man's arm with a tight grip and attempted to bring him back as the other's handled it. But he didn't seem to be having it, and shoved Travis to the ground in a rage filled blood lust. He pushed past Spencer and cocked his gun as she tried to persuade him to not look or do anything. He tried to locate the zombies that were still alive, but there was only one._

_One with the infamous yellow Hollis shirt that was now more tattered and blood stained than before. Her hair was torn out in several places and her skin was a sickly greenish gray color. It was obvious where she attempted to shoot herself from the fact that her mouth was bloody and torn up, and the large hole in her neck that exposed her veins. The bite on her arm looked ghastly and serious. With the teeth marks clearly defined with the green infectious pus that leaked out of it along with the crimson bodily fluids that continued to drip from each tear._

_Ezra stopped, his breathing became ragged and heavily as he attempted to compose himself. His sunken blue eyes were fixed on her hazel ones that were glazed over with unconsciousness and now more pale. They were uncaring and unemotional, unlike how mysterious and wonderful they were when she was really alive. There was no more twinkle in them that stayed even when the world went into chaos and everything they thought they knew turned to dust and gravel._

_"You don't have to, Ezra." Paige said, raising her gun with a heavy heart. One of them had to do it as she came up closer to them. She wasn't really Aria anymore. Not the one Ezra knew nor the ones the girls knew. She was an empty corpse taken over by a blood lusted virus. One touch or single bite would turn them into the same thing she was now._

_His teeth gritted and he forced back the tears in his eyes, raising his rifle back up. "No, let me." He croaked, closing his eyes as he finally trained the barrel of the gun to the middle of her forehead as she came closer, her arms outstretched and mouth open ready to attack him. He shakily let out an exhale and pulled the trigger. After her limp and finally dead body fell to the ground, letting out one last whimper, Ezra dropped to the ground next to her body, but at a safe distance, and cried._

"Guys..." Alison whispered, turning her head to look behind her. Her eyes were only met with the dull eyes of about fifty of the undead. Not only were they terrifying and deadly with their disease coursing through their veins, like many they came across, they could run.

"Run now." Spencer yelled, beginning to sprint to wherever they could get away to. Everyone followed in tow, even the zombies. They all made an attempt to shoot at them while getting away but it was hard when they could run too. There seemed to not even be a place to hide behind for miles. No one was sure of what to do when these things could easily catch up to them if they were to stop; they were almost as fast as the living. And there were more of them than the team was able to count, nonetheless shoot.

"What are we going to do?!" Alison cried as she continued to sprint and load her gun at the same time. Spencer groaned in frustration as she finally was faced with some question she wasn't able to answer with ease. The whole team was concerned for one another as Hanna had to get on Travis' back when she fell over a large rock when killing one of the zombies.

Ezra stopped, taking all of his equipment off of his back and throwing his rifle towards Toby. There wasn't much time to explain what he was going to do, the undead were hot on their trails, but he knew it was what he needed to do for the sake of everyone else.

"You all keep going! Take my things and run as far as you can." He paused, looking up at the star littered sky and outstretching his arms.

"Ezra, get back here! What are you doing!?" Spencer screamed, taking a hold of his backpack and stopping the group. The crazy in love man turned to his group, and gave a melancholic smile.

"It's the only way you guys will make it out alive. There's not enough bullets to spare and eventually we'll run out of energy faster than they will. I'm sacrificing myself, I can't live in this world anymore." He said, looking back up at the sky, the beautiful sky. If he wanted anything to be the last thing he really saw, it would be something gorgeous. Something that reminded him of the one he really loved. The one he was really doing this for. Part of him was glad she was dead for this. That she didn't have to witness him giving up his life for the others and instead being the one that would greet him on the other side. He was glad she was now in peace, finally.

"Ezra, don't-"

"It's the only way. Now run!" He screamed with all his might. The whole group scattered as the zombies came closer and switched their attentions to the man standing with his arms outspread and ready to be taken away. He died with a smile on his face. One crazy hell of a smile as his body was ripped to shreds and separated bone from bone by the savaged creatures.

_"Did you see that, Ezra? I did it!" Aria said as she handed him back the gun he had given her and stared down at the now dead zombie. He smiled and kissed her head, holding her close. It was still lost on him how she was able to keep a brave face and keep up her spirits, but she did. Her face brightened up every time he came back from a raid or from hunting. He wanted to teach her how to kill one of them so she could protect herself. He knew that there were slim chances any of them would survive, but he never spoke about it to Aria. He just wanted to be assured that if anything ever went wrong and he were to get killed, she was able to protect herself._

_"I saw, I'm proud of you." He congratulated. Aria smiled triumphantly up at him and nuzzled into his chest. Things had been hard for her too, her family had been killed as his had and she considered him her only family left. Well, besides the girls. She promised that when it was all over and everything horrible was dead, that they would be the ones to repopulate the world. Of course, this didn't sound too bad to Ezra._

_Aria wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her chin against his chest, staring up into his blue eyes. His cheeks had begun to grow more thick stubble and he was growing out a small beard. Ezra had wanted to pick up a razor at one of their raids but Aria said it was very sexy in a post apocalyptic rag-tag kind of way, so he kept it._

_"What a world we live in now." Aria sighed, rubbing his sides and breathing in his manly knew it too, that the odds of them surviving was not very good. But she kept hope that maybe they could live through this. It seemed that hope was the only thing she could hold onto in terms of stability, besides from Ezra. He was the main thing keeping her from grabbing one of the pistols they had stored and shooting herself in the head. She thought it was crazy that Spencer wanted to survive this but after seeing Ezra agreeing and whole heartedly wanting to protect everyone, she sided with them too._

_"It's horrible isn't it?" Ezra chuckled, looking around him at the disastrous territory they had claimed and built a base on; A steep hill with all forest surrounding it. At least there were some animals like squirrels, chipmunk and on the extreme rare occasion, buck, that roamed around the area. His hands gripped her waist and he leaned down to kiss her forehead as she nodded in agreement._

_The two stood there in the other's embrace, checking every few moments behind them in case anything tried to sneak up on them. How they managed to stay so strong when everything else was collapsing in front of their eyes was beyond them. But they did, their love kindled each day and they spent each moment they had together like it would be their last, not actually knowing when one day it would actually be their last._

_"Aria! It's your turn to man the tree! I'm taking a nap!" Hanna screamed from the tree top as she fixed her binoculars to see the two love birds snuggling. She smirked as she saw them with even the little bit of happiness they still had inside of them, and hung the seeing tool on a loose branch before climbing down._

_Aria stood up on her toes and pecked Ezra on the lips before squeezing his hand. "Duty calls."_


End file.
